Afford's Azure Migration

How Seisma used Microsoft Azure to create resilience, provide cost savings, and enhance data management for Australian Foundation for Disability.

Australian Foundation for Disability (Afford) is an Australian Non-Profit organisation dedicated to providing employment services, accommodation, community care, and support programs for people with disabilities. Their mission is to provide innovative, flexible and high-quality support to enhance lifestyle, learning and vocational opportunities for people with disability, their families and carers.

Over the last few years, Afford has faced challenges in managing its data infrastructure effectively, leading to inefficiencies, delayed decision-making, and concerns over sustainability.  

Outdated infrastructure, including on-premise servers at risk of failure, and power outages that disrupted services for its nationwide staff, and ultimately impacting their clients, meant there was a pressing need to organise their data estate, ensuring both infrastructure and data capabilities were in place to enact a forward-looking data strategy.  

Afford’s data strategy is centred around streamlining the processes for their frontline staff, allowing them to spend more time with clients rather than dealing with unnecessary complexities.  

Afford embarked on a project to migrate its infrastructure to Microsoft Azure in response to these challenges. Led by Paul Berryman - Afford’s Director of Information Technology - the project aimed to enhance data management, improve operational resilience, and streamline processes. Paul said, “Our objective was to simplify their tasks, enabling our staff to seamlessly navigate computer systems and focus on providing exceptional care to our clients."  

A Collaborative Partnership

Establishing a solid infrastructure served as the kick-off to their data strategy project, establishing the foundational groundwork, and allowing for progression to higher levels of data strategy and management.

Seisma was chosen for its expertise in Azure infrastructure, application migration and integration. "Being able to work with a company that can handle not only the foundational aspect of this transition, but the ability to move on to the next level of data strategy - for example the data management, building single customer views, and proof of concept of data integration was important to us. We wanted to avoid constantly switching between companies for infrastructure and having to start from scratch each time for the next phase," said Paul.

Ben Johnson, Director for Microsoft, Seisma agreed that the synergies between Afford and Seisma created a perfect partnership. “For us at Seisma, it is about making a difference - not only to our customers - but to the citizens that they serve. We utilise Microsoft solutions to minimise the cost of managing NFPs, ensuring more of their resources can be directed towards those in need. By providing seamless software, strategies and tools, we enable them to prioritise service delivery, enhancing their ability to make a meaningful impact.”

Migrating On-Premise Servers into Microsoft Azure  

The project involved migrating Afford's on-premise servers to Microsoft Azure, ensuring data security, and establishing a reliable cloud infrastructure. The transition was completed in a phased approach to minimise disruptions. Seisma led the technical implementation, collaborating closely with Afford's team to ensure a smooth transition.

The project, spanning approximately three months, showcases the effective collaboration between Afford and Seisma, as alongside the migration of all servers from the premise to Azure, the organisation was implementing a fully managed, secure wide area network. Previously, there was a lack of network infrastructure, with individuals solely relying on internet connections for remote server access who were completing a networking upgrade at the same time as part of this project.  

Despite the complexity of migrating infrastructure and implementing networking solutions concurrently, the teams worked seamlessly, leveraging each other's expertise to overcome any challenges that occurred during the project.

“You know a transition project like this has gone well when no one in your organisation knows it happened. The phased approach we took ensured smooth progress over a short period, with minimal disruption to end users. The benefits of our efforts became evident during a recent power outage, where services remained unaffected, highlighting the success of our deployment." said Paul.  

Key outcomes from the migration:

• ‍Enhanced Resilience: By migrating to Azure, Afford significantly reduced the risk of system failures and power outages. Even during instances of power disruption, services remained operational, ensuring continuity of care for clients.

• Cost Savings: The transition eliminated the need for costly hardware upgrades, converting capital expenses into manageable operational costs. Additionally, the simplified infrastructure has reduced maintenance overheads.

• Improved Data Management: With data now hosted on Azure, Afford gained better control and accessibility to its information assets. Upgrading systems became easier, ensuring compliance and security standards are met.

Paul confirmed that the outcomes wanted in this project have been realised, "In migrating to Azure, we've achieved significant cost savings and bolstered resilience within our system. Not only have we avoided costly hardware upgrades, but we've also mitigated risks associated with running unsupported software versions. The transition to Azure has facilitated easier service upgrades, simplifying our operational requirements and support needs."

Afford's journey from on-premise servers to Azure cloud services illustrates the power of technology in optimising operations and improving service delivery. Through its strategic collaboration with Seisma, Afford achieved its objectives of enhancing resilience, reducing costs, and laying the foundation for future innovation in data management and analytics.

Looking Forward

Having successfully transitioned to Azure, Afford and Seisma have turned their focus on leveraging data analytics and AI to further enhance operational efficiencies and decision-making.  

"We're transitioning from foundational work to the realm of data management. This entails enhancing our efficiencies and bolstering our organisation's decision-making capabilities by harnessing the wealth of unstructured or semi-structured data we possess. Our goal is to move this data into a more structured environment, transforming it into a strategic asset.” said Paul.  

Interested in transforming your organisation with Microsoft Azure? Contact Seisma today.  

About Afford

Afford is one of Australia’s largest and most established disability service providers. For more than 70 years, we’ve been working directly with clients, in partnership with their families and carers.  

Our services are designed to support clients as they pursue their life and work goals – and our team is dedicated to our clients.  

More than a provider, we are a not-for-profit, rights-based organisation, committed to ensuring and promoting the human rights of people with disability.  

Afford is a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provider and Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission-registered charity.

_{*This case study is sourced from acquired company Data Addiction.}